Editor’s note: The following article including photographs originally appeared in Northwest Sportsman Magazine and is reposted here by permission of the content author.
By Grant Wooldridge
My four young gun girls are continuing strong in the local trout circuit! Pictured are my four daughters, named Avey (7), Anna (5), Kirsten (4) and Lily (2). The oldest three fished and won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for girls under 8 years old at the annual Angle Lake Shore Club Fishing Derby!
THE WOOLDRIDGE FAMILY FISHERS — AVEY, ANNA, KIRSTEN, MOM ANGIE AND YOUNGSTER LILY — WERE ALL IN (AND THEN SOME!) DURING THE ANNUAL ANGLE LAKE SHORE CLUB FISHING DERBY, HELD APRIL 22
We woke up before dawn on Sunday April 22nd. I cooked up some breakfast for the kids and off we headed to our boat. I had been building this up for a few weeks and the girls were excited, as Avey and Kirsten had won 1st and 2nd place last year in their first derby.
KIRSTEN AND DAD GRANT WOOLDRIDGE SHOW OFF A RAINBOW.
Before last year it had been over 30 years since I had fished this local fishing derby as a kid and now the excitement was renewed with little ones of my own. The goal today was to make fishing fun so that I had some fishing pals for the future. I figured it wasn’t raining, so we were off to a good start anyway.
BEST WAY TO LURE KIDDOS ONTO THE BOAT? CANDY! IN THIS CASE, SWEDISH FISH FOR THE LI’L ANGLERS.
We set off trolling our way to the sign-up dock with a simple split shot, swivel, leader and red Wedding Ring set-up. We had a few rigs tied up with a Ford Fender flasher as well. We used cut nightcrawlers, a little PowerBait and some pink maggots that Avey picked out.
AVEY AND ANNA HOIST A NICE PAIR OF TROUT.
This actually brought us great results as the day went on. As luck (read that as skill) would have it, Avey had the largest fish of the day (13 inches) after the first pass. She just lost out for the derby’s largest by one larger fish! Pretty good for 7 years old.
THE GIRLS POSE WITH THE DAY’S CATCH, FOUR LIMITS. NOT INCLUDED IN THE PIC IS LILY, WHO NEEDED TO BE FISHED OUT OF THE LAKE DURING A HECTIC DOUBLE HOOK-UP SANS NET.
Now I made sure we had plenty of good eats necessary for successful fishing trips with kids including Swedish Fish, gummy worms and some sparkling sodas. This certainly magnified what was already a quality father and daughter(s) experience. These little ladies proceeded to limit out before the derby count was due!
BACK AT THE DOCK, ANNA DISPLAYS A GOOD RAINBOW.
The girls were having a blast! I was having the girls do the netting for their sisters, which ended up losing us the net but made for good experience.
AVEY’S 13-INCHER WAS THE SECOND LONGEST CAUGHT DURING THE DERBY.
Of course once we were without the net, we proceeded to get a double going. My beautiful wife Angie and I were helping the attempt to get two fish in the boat at the same time without a net when we heard a larger splash – there goes my 2-year-old floating past the boat! I swooped her up as fast as a lightning bolt, and most importantly we landed both fish. Good lesson in having the little ones always wear their PFDs.
WITH THEIR DAD’S SUPER-FISHY 20-FOOT ALASKAN XL IN THE BACKGROUND, THE WOOLDRIDGE GIRLS LINE THEIR CATCH UP BACK AT THE DOCK.
Once back at the derby location, we measured our catch and were entered into the catch record for the day. The girls won 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their age class and actually would have done well in any age class with their decent catch. Sure enough, we went home with prizes of kites, goodies and beach toys.
QUITE A HAUL FOR THE WOOLDRIDGE GIRLS! AVEY, ANNA AND KIRSTEN PLACED 1-2-3 IN THE UNDER-EIGHT GIRLS COMPETITION.
What a great day on the water fishing out of the very awesome but a tad overkill Wooldridge 20’ Alaskan XL. A huge thank you to all those at the Angle Lake Shore Club who put on such a great event.
Editor’s Postscript: Visit the ALSC Photo Album to view all the other photos captured by our Club Photographer, Tani Rae and guests, Valerie Vavrik and Bruce Goulet.
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